Michigan Dreams

Michigan has been hit hard during America’s economic downturn. Like a slow-moving
tsunami, trouble began arriving here years ago, as manufacturing (particularly the
auto industry) downsized painfully. University of Michigan economists are predicting
that 2010 will close a decade represented by nearly 950,000 jobs lost in the Wolverine
State.

We wanted to find out how people here are holding up, particularly those with some
connection to UM SPH. Tell us how your work and your life are affected, we said as
we got in touch with alumni, faculty, and community partners. How about your dreams—are
they derailed, or simply changing? What will rebirth look like for Michigan? What
is the good news?

Two Findings writers talked to more than a dozen people—and we didn’t just call the stories in.
We got out into Michigan’s cities and green open vistas, to spend days shadowing many
of our interviewees at work: on a sun-drenched vegetable farm near Manchester, a guarded
UAW building on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, in hospitals, in the ravaged but hopeful
neighborhoods of Flint, in the sacred native lands of the Upper Peninsula. It helped
us better understand—and tell you more—about the state of our state, and what we can
expect next.

“My dad worked here in this field, and my mom, too, when she was pregnant with me.
But I don’t want to be here my whole life. I’ve always thought I am going to be someone.
I’m really good in school. I want to go to college and study political science, and I want to be the first Latino
president of the United States of America. I would like to help a lot of people, because there’s a lot of people in need.” —Charlie Perez “I want to finish high school and go off to a community college and study to be a
midwife. I wanted to be an architect originally. But I had to be realistic, because who in the world was going to want to pay me to
make some kind of house the way they wanted? So I was like, OK, nobody’s going to
want to do that, the whole economy’s going. So I needed a job that I knew was going
to be secure—and that’s how I ended up wanting to be a midwife.” —Karina RodriguezKarina Rodríguez, 17, Ben Rubio, 19, and Charlie Perez, 16, traveled from Texas with
their families this summer to pick vegetables in Michigan. With SPH alumna Amy Frank,
MPH/MSW ’04, and UM graduate Alexandra Lazar, of Migrant Health Promotion’s Infórmate
program, the three trained to be teen health aides in their community.

“AIDS is the number-one cause of death among African-American men between the ages
of 20 and 49 in Genesee County, and our 13 to 19 year-olds have the highest rates
of HIV in the state. We have the second highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea in
Michigan, and we’re currently experiencing a syphilis epidemic. Our teen pregnancy
rates rival the national rates, and that’s unacceptable. But we always have hope.
We’ve seen the health department, the medical community, politicians, businesses,
and everyday residents all come together to work on these issues. We’ve had town hall
meetings. We’ve been able to train 44 faith institutions to be able to talk about health and
sexuality, and as a result we’ve seen more young people come in to pick up condoms, people coming
in to be tested, churches opening their doors to have testing sites, pastors inviting
us to talk about it from the pulpit. So they are saying we get it, we want to help.”A UM alumna (BS ’93, MSW ’95) and an SPH community partner, Bettina Campbell directs
the faith-based Flint initiative Your Center, which focuses on sexual health and infant
mortality. “It’s our responsibility as Christians,” she says, “to step up to the plate
and do whatever we can to make sure that our brothers and sisters are on the same
level playing field that we are.”

GRAND RAPIDS: Erin Schlemmer, UM SPH epidemiology student

“In terms of health care, Grand Rapids is really booming. The city is getting a lot of different health care centers and research going. Because
of the contributions of several families, we’ve got state-of-the-art facilities like
the Van Andel Institute, which does cancer research, the Fred and Lena Meijer Heart
Center at Spectrum Hospital, and the De Vos Children’s Hospital. Michigan State University
is also starting to build a big medical teaching and research complex in Grand Rapids.
Even though Michigan is having a lot of economic problems, we are still a big leader
in terms of health care research and quality of care across the whole belt of Grand
Rapids to Ann Arbor and Detroit.”Over the summer, Grand Rapids native Erin Schlemmer, a second-year M.P.H. student
at SPH, completed an internship with the Michigan Department of Community Health,
where she worked on HIV/AIDS surveillance. She enjoyed working for the state government,
she says, because “you have the luxury of seeing overall trends and trying to help
make decisions about where to focus resources.”

DEARBORN: Adnan Hammad, Senior Director, Community Health and Research Center for
Arab-American Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS)

“ACCESS has been receiving and serving immigrants and refugees for almost 38 years,
and it has never been as hard as it is now to help them. Last year we received 2,050
refugees, and we have been informed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement that we
can expect 4,000 Iraqi-Chaldean refugees by the end of this fiscal year. Our focus-group
meetings with refugees indicate that currently 70 percent of the refugees who come here can’t find work. They live with their extended families, because they cannot afford to live independently.
They are really in need of everything, including mental health services, because you
have human beings who are victims of torture and therefore victims of post-traumatic
stress syndrome. Refugees are the future of the American dream, and we have to realize
that. We have to allow them to integrate in the larger community by employing them,
opening doors for them.”SPH community partner Adnan Hammad grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp and came
to the U.S. in 1994 to establish and direct the Community Health and Research Center
at ACCESS, a human services organization committed to the development of the Arab-American
community. “America gives people opportunities to make their dreams true,” he says.“I
see myself as part of the American dream.”

“Working for a nonprofit in Southwest Detroit these days is like living in the eye
of a storm. Our neighborhood’s mostly Hispanic population feels it with higher unemployment,
immigration problems, and an educational system that’s crashing and burning around
us. The recent Chadsey High School closing, for example, is bringing rival gangs together
at Southwestern and Western high schools. Gang mediation is a part of what we do, and we know gang activity is inversely related
to economic prosperity. Gangs expand when adults fail to provide kids with what they need: jobs, value, respect,
and a sense of belonging. So we work on social entrepreneurship with these kids, and
redirect their leadership potential into more positive projects. We’re fortunate to
have strong Latino men working with youths here, and we provide a safe haven, a place
to belong, year-round. We know we’re making a big difference now and for the future.”Angela Reyes earned her MPH from SPH in 1998, a year after she founded the Detroit
Hispanic Development Corporation from her living room, “because I was tired of burying
children.” DHDC serves as headquarters for 45 staffers, hundreds of school-age children,
and clients such as local women training in HIV prevention with coaching in self-respect,
self-defense, cultural pride, and condom negotiation.

DETROIT: Sarah Mayberry, Senior Medical Producer, WDIV TV (NBC)

“We’re doing lots of pain-related segments—migraines, back pain, it’s all tied together
with links to stress. This economy has hurt our viewers, no doubt about it. Whether they’ve lost health insurance or not, people are seeing doctors less. They rely on the information we provide, because there’s more fear at work of looking
weak or missing days for sick kids. We’ve always received calls asking for help, but
now the volume is higher and the problems are more serious. We publicize anything
that’s free, especially health tests—that’s a huge priority. Some of my professors
used to overlook television as a way to talk to the public about health issues, but
people e-mail every day with questions that they’re embarrassed to ask their own doctors.
I feel like I’ve found my place to make a difference—to give people access to what
they want and need to know.”Sarah Mayberry was already working general assignments at WDIV television in Detroit
(Channel 4) when she earned her MPH from SPH in 2000. She has won several Emmy awards
and an Edward R. Murrow Award, and continues to find the people she interviews “surprisingly
willing to share their stories, because they want to help others.”

“America has the UAW to thank for the eight-hour workday, decent vacation time, healthier
workplaces, you name it. And not just in the auto industry—we’re in water-treatment
plants, appliance companies, even ice cream factories. These days, we’re actually
seeing an increase in the number of requests for safety training. That’s because it’s
the proportion of experienced workers that’s decreasing, as they take buyouts. Companies
bring in new hires at lower wages, and suddenly we’re back to square one, needing
basic hazmat training for employees who have to learn how to read a material safety
sheet to determine venting for a job. So much experience and know-how has been lost. There’s less money, resources, personnel—and stress is way up. In terms of safety,
more stressed workers can mean trouble. We’re probably in a very dangerous time ...”Luis Vazquez, who completed the MPH program in environmental health at SPH in 1989,
has been working for 18 years under federal grants to improve worksite health and
safety. In April, he worked with Detroiters for Environmental Justice to train 20
young Detroiters, all of whom reached technician level and half of whom immediately
got jobs in asbestos remediation.

SAULT STE MARIE: Rick Haverkate, Director of Public Health, Inter-Tribal Council of
Michigan

“There’s a lot of bad news coming out, sure. But we have good news to share. The socioeconomic
status of American Indians has risen over the past generation. More American Indians
are getting college degrees. For the first time ever, we have native physicians at
tribal clinics. We finally have Indian people getting law degrees and working for
tribes. And the health statistics of a lot of American Indians are rising. We’re surpassing the general population in areas like health screenings and quit attempts
for smoking. We have really high rates of early entry into prenatal care. We’re partnering with
places like the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association to create
outreach and education programs that include American Indians and other minorities.
During the economic good times of the past, I think a lot of minorities felt excluded
from the American dream. But now, in the ‘browning’ of America, I think people see
the possibility of being included.” A member of the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians, Rick Haverkate oversees
the public health efforts of Michigan’s Inter-Tribal Council, which for the past 15
years have included collaborations with SPH students and faculty on issues such as
maternal and child health.

“I think our community is a good example of how to do things right in terms of working
with a distressed community such as Benton Harbor. The St. Joe River divides St. Joseph
and Benton Harbor, but there’s been a lot of hands extended across the river to work
together. This summer, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course opened along the river,
turning a formerly polluted industrial brownfield area into a magnificent course.
A number of condo and hotel developments are being planned. There’s a new streetscape
in downtown Benton Harbor, an arts district, loft apartments, restaurants, a dance
studio, and those have been bringing people into the prime part of downtown. Is it
perfect? Not by a long shot. The economic downturn has caught individuals from all economic strata—it doesn’t matter
whether they’re high school or college graduates or professionals. It’s impacting everyone. But I think there’s been a real sense of working together.”In addition to his work with Lakeland Health System, SPH alumnus Joe Wasserman, MHA
’70, has served for many years on the board of Cornerstone Alliance, a nonprofit community
and economic development organization dedicated to tax and job-base creation in the
communities that comprise Northern Berrien County, Michigan.

More Michigan Dreams

ANN ARBOR: Kraig Stevenson, Bioinformatics Ph.D. Student“My version of the American Dream (maybe it’s just the Midwestern Small-Town Guy Dream)
is to eventually have a job that I am happy with and earn a comfortable living so
I can buy a home and start a family. Besides having a successful career, those goals
are in the back of my mind. I’m continuing in school now and working in a lab on simulations
to help find genes that predispose people to complex diseases. I love Michigan, I
love Ann Arbor, and I personally have not been deeply affected by the economic troubles,
although I know people who have been. I’ve worked hard, but I’ve also been very fortunate.
Had I not been admitted into UM’s Ph.D. program in bioinformatics with guaranteed
funding, I am fairly confident I would have been able to find a good job—as most of
my classmates did, in hospital labs, with the Census Bureau, and in various research
settings. The job market for masters-level biostatisticians is very good.” Kraig Stevenson, 25, grew up in Marshall, Michigan, majored in statistics at Michigan
State University, and received his M.S. in biostatistics from SPH in 2009. He represented
the biostatistics department on the Public Health Student Assembly and participated
in data-gathering group trips to China and Mississippi through the SPH Office of Public
Health Practice. After he completes the UM Ph.D. program in bioinformatics in about
three years, he may be headed for a career in academia, shepherding other unsuspecting
future professionals into the computer science of analyzing and managing biomedical
data.

FLINT: Lee Bell, UM SPH Community Advocate, Flint“How I see it, the American dream is alive and well. Because of what I do, I’m connected
to circles that allow me to be hopeful. On one hand there’s the downfall of GM, but
on the other there are new opportunities, other industries to fill the void—green
jobs, the whole green energy movement. We have a lot of vacant land here which could
be used to foster some of those industries and would give the folk a chance to think
differently. We have a deficiency in access to fresh fruits and vegetables, but on
the other hand we have an abundance of land. So the two could be married. And there
are some communities here in Flint that are taking advantage of that. There’s a community
garden in Beecher that’s organic, with no pesticides. The young people who work on
it sell their produce in local stores and farmers markets, and the money they earn
goes to a college scholarship fund. A lot of kids here are more upbeat, more hopeful.
Had Obama not been elected president, I think the mood would be a lot more dismal.
But kids now believe they can be president. They believe that yes we can.” Lee Bell serves on the Community Advisory Board of the UM Prevention Research Center
in Genesee County and is currently involved in several projects, including a sleep
study, a community roundtable aimed at improving the quality of life in neighborhoods
throughout Flint, and the nationwide campaign for health reform. Bell is the 2008–9
chair of the Community-Based Public Health Caucus of the American Public Health Association.

ANN ARBOR: John Romani, Professor Emeritus of Public Health Administration, UM SPH“I started working in the breakfast program at St. Andrew’s [Episcopal Church, Ann
Arbor] in about 1984. I saw this as part of my witness. The idea of witness essentially
comes from whatever faith I have. If you read the two prayers at the end of the Eucharist—now
go out in the world and serve, and be a witness to God’s presence—that means in a
sense be a servant. I see my teaching as part of my witness now. I’ve been teaching
an undergraduate course in the UM program in the environment for about five years,
and there have been at least two to three students out of each class who come to me
afterwards and say, ‘Professor Romani, I’m applying for grad study. Will you write
a letter for me? You’re the only one of my professors that I think knows me.’ And
so my feeling is if I can establish relationships with students and help them think
about what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to do it, then this is a way
in which I am a witness. If you see your everyday job as being of service—beyond satisfying
your own needs—then you are essentially doing the Lord’s work. I know this sounds
corny. I’m not saying that what I do is that great, or that I do as much of it as
I should.”Since his retirement from SPH in 1993, John Romani has maintained a vigorous research
and teaching agenda. With his wife, UM Professor of Sociology Barbara Anderson, he
studies issues in post-Apartheid South Africa and co-teaches a UM course on “Population
and Health in South Africa in Transition.” Until a few years ago, Romani helped run
Breakfast at St. Andrew’s, a program for people in need in Ann Arbor. Romani says
he doesn’t think it’s unusual for someone his age—84—to be as active as he is. “I’m
fortunate in the sense that in academia there’s really no termination, in terms of
your skills. I can sit at home and turn on the computer and do research until whenever
I want to.”